Lend Academy shares information related to filing taxes with LendingClub and Prosper for the 2017 tax year. Source
WorldRemit recently entered the U.S. market and already expects it to be their biggest market by year end; remittances sent from the U.S. back to home countries have risen to $66bn from $50bn in the last 5 years; immigrants are becoming more tech savvy and companies like WorldRemit see big potential as apps like WhatsApp have helped move people to use their phones more and more; WorldRemit has been driven in large part by relying on a number of different partners to help set up their expanding network; tax issues are still a big concern and recently receiving the NY approval, a 2 year effort, sets the company up to focus on scale. Source.
Caitlin Long recently stepped down as President and Chairman of blockchain startup Symbiont to help turn Wyoming into an ideal environment for digital asset businesses; she helped with the Delaware Blockchain Initiative and, along with her partners, recently introduced 5 bills in Wyoming; 3 of the 5 have passed and the Governor has indicated he will sign them into law later this month; American Banker interviewed Caitlin on institutional interest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin becoming financialized, the different between security and utility tokens and more. Source.
The new fund will allow accredited investors to access all of the cryptocurrencies currently on Coinbase; the currencies will be weighted on market capitalization and new cryptocurrencies will automatically be added to the fund; the fund will charge a 2% management fee. Source
SoFi has already done two Super Bowl commercials but has also become a sponsor of numerous sporting events; The company most recently sponsored the Big Ten men’s college basketball championship final last week; SoFi finds that sporting events are a great way to reach their target audience and build the SoFi brand. Source
The continued push by Amazon into financial services could have a bigger effect on startups over banks; Nicolas Parmaksizian, global head of Capco digital, tells TearSheet, “If you combine an Amazon with a Capital One, you’re combining the amazing power of Amazon and Capital One’s data analytics, and that’s a challenging thing to compete with as a startup banking brand.”; digital only banks look to offer a better experience at a lower cost than the traditional banks, adding Amazon into the mix could drown out those startups before they ever get going. Source.
Circle is planning to offer a similar product to Coinbase called Circle Invest; the platform has now launched in beta as users reported they were receiving invites; the app will support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ethereum Classic; the app currently does not support cryptocurrency deposits. Source
Tim Draper was an early investor in the internet and is also a big believer in blockchain technology; in an interview on Fast Money he shares that he believes that crypto will be a main payment method in just five years and that none of us will be using fiat currency; Draper is known for purchasing 30,000 bitcoins in a 2014 US Marshals Service Auction and has said he still holds all of those coins. Source
According to researchers from the Federal Reserve and University of California, non-bank mortgage lenders are not prepared to weather a financial downturn and are a risk to taxpayers; According to the paper, “Non-bank failures could be quite costly to the government, but this issue has received very little attention in the housing-reform debate. The funding and operational structure of the non-bank mortgage sector remains a significant channel for systemic liquidity risk.”; non-bank lenders originated half of home loans in 2016. Source
Formed in 2016, the Golden Contract Coalition was designed to help small banks negotiate better with core banking providers; the mission has now expanded to include a FinTech Advantage unit dedicated to helping the banks by financial technology; the member banks of the coalition pay a fee for the group to provide more negotiating muscle; Fiserv, FIS and Jack Henry are the major core providers for banks and the group is there to help smaller banks even the playing field. Source.